Ryoga Echizen
Background Ryoga Echizen (越前 リョーガ, Echizen Ryoga) is a high school tennis player as well as the main protagonist of The Prince of Tennis, first appearing in The Prince of Tennis - The Two Samurai: The First Game (テニスの王子様 二人のサムライ The First Game,, Tenisu no Ōji-sama Futari no Samurai The First Game), later appearing in an Ova in New York in which Ryoma spots him training. Nanjirō Echizen, Ryoma's father , adopted Ryoga, the reason is yet unknown. His techniques are copies from Nanjirō Echizen, like Ryoma in the beginning of the series, but his Twist Serve that he learned from Nanjirō also, has the opposite spin so instead of bouncing to the opponent's head, it bounces away. While the Echizen family were in America, Ryoga was taken in by Echizen Nanjiro and lived with them for a time. He is Ryoma's "brother" (though it was not stated whether or not Ryoga had any blood relation with Nanjiro or not). His tennis technique is modeled on that of Nanjiro. When he left the Echizen's home, he was hired by the billionaire Sakurafubuki Hikomaro to play tennis for him in his gambling schemes. In the flashbacks, it showed that he was rather close to Ryoma. At first he said that Ryoma's tennis was awful (which was true when he was about five or so). It was shown that Ryoga's skills were far superior, but as Ryoma continued to improve, Ryoga began spending more time with him. It is unknown why he ran away, possibly that he was just bored with home. In the fourth OVA, Another Story, Ryoga makes another appearance and finally after surprising large popularity despite never appearing in the manga, Ryoga is brought into the manga by creator Konomi Takeshi in the sequel series New Prince of Tennis. Appearance Ryoga and Ryoma may be adoptive-brothers, but they both look alike. He bears a strong resemblance to Ryoma with his hazel eyes and black-green hair. Based on his height and muscular build Ryoga might be at least 3-6 years older than Ryoma.﻿ Ryoga's key features are his neckalce, and his love of oranges. He is almost always shown tossing an orange. Like his younger adoptive brother Ryoma, he tends to juggle a tennis ball with his racket while walking. Ryoga is similar in height to the rest of the High Schoolers in that he is rather tall compared to the Middle Schoolers. In the U-17 Camp, Ryoga wears a hoodie under his uniform, with his jacket completely unzipped, and has his trademark necklace. Personality Ryoga as typically seen juggling an orange and also a tennis ball with his racket..jpg|Ryoga's habit of juggling an orange or a tennis ball or even both while walking or talking. Ryoga acting cocky.jpg|Ryoga acting cocky. Ryoga eating an orange.png|Ryoga's love of oranges. Ryoga at the Camp.png Ryoga has similar personality traits like Ryoma. He too is cocky and arrogant, but overcomes it by his dedication to tennis. He uses a similar catchphrase as Ryoma and Nanjiro which is "Mada mada daze." Ryoga is shown to be like a big brother to Ryoma even though they are not blood related. The reason for his disappearance is still unknown during the movie. Ryoga has a love for oranges and has been shown to even eat them without peeling them. Ryoga is almost always seen with an orange when off the court. History The Two Samurai Movie Ryoga is the antagonist turned protagonist in the film Futari no Samurai. Which takes place just after the Kanto Regional Championship. Aboard one of Sakurafubuki's cruise ships Ryoga Echizen introduces himself to the team as Ryoma's older brother. Ryoma reveals that Ryoga was "taken in" by Nanjiroh many years ago, when they lived in America. Sakurafubuki organizes a match between his hired team and Seigaku since they were the Kanto Region Champions. However the corrupt Sakurafubuki demands the Seigaku players lose on purpose so that he can gain loads of money from the people that bet on the recently crowned Kanto Regional Champions winning against his hired team. However Ryoga, eventually becomes angered by this as he realizes he wants a serious match with his younger adoptive brother. Despite Sakurafubuki's orders, Echizen Ryoga decides to betray Sakurafubuki in order to play a match against his brother to see who's the better player. While this happens Sakurafubuki holds several Seigaku members hostage forcing Ryoma, who plays in the last match to lose on purpose so his teammates can be freed. However Ryoga decides that he will not be Sakurafubuki's pawn any longer, and fires a tennis ball straight into his forehead. This allows the rest of the team to escape once again. As Ryoma and Ryoga's match continues, a terrible storm brews, forcing everyone on the ship to evacuate through the lifeboats. The Echizen brothers keep playing their match, even as an enormous tidal wave descends upon the cruise ship. They seem unfazed as they play their match underwater. In the end, thanks to luck, Ryoma is the match's victor when the ball drops onto Ryoga's side of the net, despite that the net is gone and a large light has crashed across the court. Ryoga accepts his defeat and remarks that Ryoma's tennis certainly has improved. The two escape via Ryoga's jet ski, and Ryoma is reunited with his team, who have all escaped the ship unharmed. Ryoga takes Ryoma's hat and gives him an orange and tells him to find his Grand Dream. After Ryoga's chat, he rides his jet ski into the sunset. Prior To U-17 Camp Ryoga is shown practising against a wall that shows his intense level of power as the wall is completely dented. Ryoma is shown watching him during the first episode of the Another Story OVA. This is while Seigaku and Shitenhoji had a joint training camp for 2 days which was after the Middle School Nationals. In the ending credits of the OVA, Ryoma is seen in a cab in New York, only to see Ryoga outside the window. Ryoma opens the cab door and smiles seeing Ryoga and the song ends with Ryoma on a street tennis court serving a ball, most likely to his brother. U-17 Camp Ryoga's first appearance in the manga and main storyline doesnt occur until New Prince of Tennis within the U-17 Camp. Upon the arrival of the 1st Stringers, the bus stops outside of the entrance of the camp. Representative candidates No.s 11-20 head on to the outer courts to to participate in their Foreign Expedition Group Challenge matches which involves 2nd Stringers challenging them for their spots. While all this is going on, the Top 10 relax on the 1st Stringers coach revealing Ryoga as a member of the Top 10. Ryoga appears on the bus wearing a hoodie underneath his uniform, wearing his signature necklace, and tossing an orange which is a known habit of his and its also that it is his favourite thing to eat. Ryoga and the rest of the Top 10 believing that No.s 11-20 will easily defeat their challengers head to the main courts to greet the rest of the members of the camp where the Coaches declare that they havent met Ryoga before asking who he was. Showing that after meeting Ryoma and escaping the boat on a jet ski in Futari no Samurai ''he really did go and explore like he said since Byoudouin Houou states that they met him abroad saw his skill and found out he had Japanese citizenship. Ryoga and the Top 10 wait at the courts. At this time, Ryoga is still wearing his hoodie, not revealing to Echizen Ryoma who he is however he stands with the rest of the Top 10 and lines up against the Top 2nd Stringers wearing his No.4 badge. Ryoga is present at the courts upon finding out that the Middle Schoolers defeated No.s 11-20 and replaced them as 1st Stringers. After Kimijma Ikuto decides to create a new match rota, later on, Byoudouin sees Tokugawa Kazuya and Ryoma finishing a long practice session. He decides to target them by htting powerful serves attempting to injure them. One ball, hits Tokugawa and sends him to the floor, however one serve is suddenly aimed straight at startled Ryoma's face, just in time, Ryoga arrives returning the shot with ease that sent Tokugawa to the floor, and using a nickname to Ryoma he used since their childhood ''Long time no see, Chibisuke. Ryoga is then seen with the rest of the camp watching the Representative match for spots No.10 and No.9 with the rest of the camp. Tennis Record Playing Style and Techniques Ryoga Echizen uses a tennis style based off of his adoptive fathers and therefore plays quite a lot like Echizen. Except that he is Right-Handed. Ryoga is an All-Rounder. He is also very skilled as it can be seen that he was given the No.4 badge of the U-17 All-Japan team. He was accepted by the 1st stringers who are usually very arrogant and overconfident about their abilities. Ryoga was also able to easily return the serve of Byoudouin Houou, which shattered the wall around the court on the previous occasion. [[Twist Serve|'Twist Serve']] : The Twist serve is one of Ryoga's main shots. However due to a different grip that Ryoga uses, the ball shoots away from the opponent, making it difficult to return. In the English dubbed version of Prince of Tennis, the twist serve is referred to as the kick serve, which is similar to the twist serve, but is considered to be less powerful and easier to perform than the twist serve. Trivia *Ryoga is the only character in the series to appear in a Movie before his anime appearance. Ryoga first appears in movie The Two Samurai. He then appears in the anime episode The Prince of Naniwa First Act which is an OVA from the Another Story series which takes place just after the Nationals. After this, Ryoga appears in the manga New Prince of Tennis chapter 50. Category:Characters Category:Tennis Player Category:High Schooler Category:All-Rounder Category:Right-Handed Category:U-17 Camp Category:Movie Characters